I had the GREATEST TIME EVER IN SEATTLE WITH KYLE DICKSON BRANIGAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was an amazing trip, SPECTACULAR weather, and we went places both of us have never been to before!!!!!! MY FAVORITE PART WAS SPENDING TIME WITH KYLE!!!!!! It has been over a year since I have seen him and I am so happy he is doing so well. I am proud of him. Below is the DETAILED list of things we did in Seattle.
Saturday (Aug 27)-My parents and I arrived to Seattle ON TIME!!!! We met Kyle at the baggage claim. Then we went to pick up the rental car and then we had to drive to Bellevue although my dad got a little lost with the GPS because he kept losing the signal in and out of the tunnels. He had to make an illegal u-turn hahaha. Good times. Then Kyle and I went shopping near my parents' hotel in Bellevue. We went to bath and body works I needed to pick up a couple of items and then we went to McDonald's where I just pigged out because I was soooo hungry after 2 long flights. On our way to Kyle's apartment we were stuck in traffic for what seemed like 2 hours even though it was only 45 minutes to an hour and thank god we didn't have to stand up the entire ride there. When we arrived at his place that was my most FAVORITE TIME!!!!!!! We chilled out for a while and talked and had A LOT OF LAUGHS!!!! Then we got ready for our first clubbing experience together!!!! I have been clubbing once before in NY with a few friends from Mitchell College but I haven't had the privilege of going to a club with kyle. We went to a club called Trinity near Kyle's apartment and it WAS A TOTAL BUST!!!!!!! The entire club was packed in the bar, then the dance floor was ridiculously TINY!!!!!! The music sucked it was techno and I despise techno music at a club. I'd rather be dancing to hip/hop or rap or some other genre of music other than techno YUCK!!!!!! So we left after about 15 minutes. On our way back to Kyle's place we debated about going to the taco truck right after but I was soooo tired after all the traveling that I just wanted to sleep it was midnight at to me it really felt like 3 Am so I was tired and I didn't sleep the night before since I had an early flight to catch. So we decided to go back to Kyle's place and go to bed.
Sunday-Kyle and I went to the taco truck for breakfast and it was just OK to me. The food was kind of bland but that's how Kyle likes it. Plus I ordered my food wrong I failed to mention what kind of meat I wanted on my burrito so I only had it with beans and other really good toppings too; however, the person who made my burrito screwed up on the beans order I got black beans instead of pinto beans. TOTAL BUMMER!!!!!! Then Kyle and met my parents at the Home-wood Suites hotel 725 was the room number and it was pretty awesome. My parents changed locations of their first hotel in Bellevue to Home-wood Suites because that's how they booked the reservations. Most of hte hotels were booked up so the first night they stayed in Bellevue and the second night through the rest of the week they stayed at the Home-wood Suites. I stayed with them too for most of the vacation only 2 nights I spent with Kyle at his place. The hotel was pretty awesome you received breakfast and appetizers around dinner time and coffee and tea was served all day. So anyhow Kyle and I also did some shopping and the first store I went into was Nike Town and it only took me 30 seconds to make a decision about which pair of sneakers to buy. There are mostly black with a white Nike check sign and a hot pink label on the tongue of the sneaker that states NIKE!!! I just loved the pair when I saw them and plus I really needed new sneakers anyhow. The guy who was helping me great and I made a purchase in 5 minutes. I was really excited. Then Kyle and I went to meet up with my parents for lunch at the Fisherman's restaurant at Pike Street and that was really cool. My parents were sitting at the top of the balcony of the restaurant and they were listening to a new band called meal frog and they sound like pearl jam and kings of leon. We had our own private viewing from the balcony. it was pretty kick ass. Then Kyle and I took the monorail and we saw the space needle but we didn't go inside it and take the elevator we decided to go to the fountain near the space needle and it is totally awesome!!!!!!!!!!!! Although, I didn't like the hill that you had to walk down to go to the fountain it was really steep and kids kept falling. One little girl fell down 3 times and she was bleeding and I was like parents could sue the town for this fountain since so many kids can get hurt on this steep hill. Kyle almost slipped as he was walking down to the fountain. I got totally SOAKED WHEN I WENT DOWN THERE!!!!!!! The fountain splashes you from all different angles it is INSANE!!!!!!!!! I didn't expect to get hit with the water sooo suddenly I tried to go in between the water but instead I got poured on directly in the face and all down my shit and shorts. Luckily it was a HOT day and I needed to cool off. The day gets soooo hot between 3 and 4 O'clock in the summertime in Seattle and then by night it cools down significantly. We were laughing as we were watching everyone else by the fountain because we kept seeing these two girls walking around the entire fountain talking and walking really slowly and getting soaked and it was like tehy didn't even care how wet they were they were soooo fixated in conversation that they didn't even seem to notice when they would get sprayed with water. We also saw a woman who was pretty big and she was wearing this dark purple shirt and she it almost looked like she was bathing herself in the fountain and her shit was soooo wet you could see her hiney crack that we called her barney it was soooo wrong of us to do but teh way she was running in the fountain, the way she was laughing, and getting the kids excited she reminded me of barney. It was hilarious. When we got back on the monorail we met up with my parents again and Kyle picked out this restaurant called The Palace and even though it sounded expensive it really wasn't. I got the lamb for dinner, my dad had some sort of fish with Bacon on the side (the waitress was soooo nice she threw that in special for him), my mom and Kyle both had a half pound burger!!!!!!!! IT LOOKED INSANE-O!!!!!!!!!!! My lamb dish was soooo good and then I almost forgot to take back my leftovers it was sitting on the table right before we left and was we were walking out I was like OMG i forgot my lamb!!!!! So I ran back to get it from the waitress and she was soooooo good she saw me right away and handed it to me. It was a fantastic night. Then Kyle decided after dinner he'd head back to his place because he was tired and he had to get up early the next morning to go work. I stayed in the sleep sofa of my parents' hotel instead of the bed next to them because my parents snore and I never sleep well with them in the same room. So I stayed in the living room and slept on the sleep sofa.
Monday-Kyle had to work all day from 9-6 so my parents and I decided to go to the aquarium it was pretty exciting. When we first got there we saw the aquarium personnel feeding the fish that was cool and we saw an eel being fed too in the same tank AWESOMNESS!!!!!!! We witnessed an octopus being fed too and how the octopus was trying to open up some sort of cage to get his clam out to eat and he was moving around like crazy. We saw sharks, seals, a huge fish tank that covered the entire ceiling and all of the walls it was wild. It was all fish everywhere you looked expect the floor though. It was pretty radical. We took lots of pictures of this. Then we went to Jimmy John's for lunch and my order got messed up again where they gave me tomatoes and I asked for no tomatoes but my dad ate them for me thank goodness they didn't go to waste. The sammy was really good I had a roast beef with provolone cheese, lettuce, pickle, mayo and yes even tomatoes. Then we went back to the hotel, chilled out, had some appetizers that was actually our dinner for the evening because we weren't that hungry. Kyle came by after work and he ate dinner at our hotel too even though by the time he came the meat was already dry and gross. Then Kyle and I went out and we shopped at Old Navy 2 TIMES!!!!!!!!!!!!! The first time i bought nice ankle socks and then after I went outside and made the purchase there was a stain on one of the pairs I to go back to Old Navy so I could exchange the socks. I had to go back upstairs and find a pair which I did I waited in line and then I realized the elastic band was coming loose of the socks and then I had to go back upstairs and find the right pair of socks that had NOTHING WRONG WITH THEM and then I waited back in line and I exchanged the original pair of socks. Damn old navy was a pain in my behind. Then we went to forever 21 I bought more socks I love socks especially now that I can wear the ankle socks with the better pair of sneakers I got and not have the sneakers rub against the back of my heel!!!!!!! Then we hung back out at the hotel and watched more of the OWN Mystery Diagnosis show and we just had a lot of fun being together and talking.
Tuesday-Kyle had to work again so my parents and I got up early to go Mt. Rainer and it was GORGEOUS!!!!!!! Although, the only negative part was there was sooooo much fog we couldn't see much as we had hoped to. We hiked on trail and it was fairly long. We drove almost to the very tip of it where we could see snow and it was really cold. I wish I had worn a winter coat. We also watched a movie about hiking Mt. Rainer and how sooooo many people come to explore The beauty of the mountain and how much they love nature. It was pretty wild. We had a lot of fun and we took lots of pictures even though as my mom has stated before a picture doesn't do any justice for what we are seeing. which is soooo true. you have to come to Seattle and see for yourself the beauty of the mountain and the waterfalls. The trees in the mountain are ginormous and I stood in between two Dougless Fir trees and it was like looking up at the twin towers they were soooo massive. I was shocked. All in all we had a BLAST!!!! We saw Kyle later in the evening and he told me that today was all about the talent show for the kids and they had a lot of fun. I am happy for him he enjoys working with children and he is doing well with his job. We went out and we went to Cheesecake factory and we got pizzas I got the cheese pizza and kyle got some sort of a pizza with meat on it. Then we went back to the Home-wood Suites and we watched my FAVORITE MOVIE OF ALL TIME JUST FRIENDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOVED IT!!!!!!!!! When we were tired he slept on the sleep sofa and I slept in my parents' room with the other double bed and they kept me up all night with their SNORING!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then we had to wake up early for our MOST SPECIAL DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday-Kyle had off today so we all got up early and went to Olympic Park. This was a FULL DAY!!!!!! We took a fairy to get to Olympic Park with my dad's rental car and it took us a while to get there. It was SOOOOO WELL WORTH IT!!!!!! I really wanted to see the hot springs and Kyle and I even brought our bathing suits in hopes that we would go in it but we never made it that far. We walked about 3 miles there and back up to HURRICANE RIDGE I like to call it SUICIDE RIDGE!!!!!!!!!! The ridge was soooooo high up I could barley breathe my heart was beating soooo fast it began to hurt/ache. I HAVE NEVER FELT THIS WAY BEFORE!!!!!!!! I was told it was because of the high elevation and the higher you walk up this ridge the less oxygen one is getting and I was like OMG I could die out here. I was kind of scared but I MADE IT UP THE RIDGE!!!!!!!!! I WAS SOOOO PROUD OF MYSELF!!!!!!!!! Kyle really enjoyed this too because he has never been to Olympic Park before. He said it was beautiful and it was sooooo peaceful too. My favorite part about walking up this ridge was walking back and everything was downhill which made it seem that much faster and easier to walk. I loved it. Then we took another hike by Crescent Lake and the water was sooooooo warm. Kyle and I put our hands in and we couldn't believe how warm the water was. We could have gone in but we decided against it. We stood on the dock it was fantastic. We also walked through really tall trees and the landscape was just amazing on that hike. Then we took the fairy back and we were pretty hungry too so we went to this Mexican restaurant which we all thought was OK but Kyle really loved it there. He wants to go back there again sometime. Kyle and I we can eat though we're always hungry it seems like anyhow. After we got back from our trip and went back to the hotel Kyle hung out for a while and we were watching Prime-Time Live about transgender children and it was really interesting. We struck multiple conversations about this during the evening and even the next morning. It was pretty awesome. Kyle was excited for the following Wednesday's episode about obesity and anorexia/bulimia I watched it and it was entertaining. We also watched OWN too and saw Mystery Diagnosis about this young girl who was believed to have chicken pox and had blisters everywhere on her body but it turned out it wasn't the chicken pox it was some other disease and luckily the RN knew right away this wasn't the right diagnosis and talked to the right doctors and she got the treatment right away that saved her life. Left her partially blind though which really sucks. Overall, Kyle and I had a good night watching TV and talking up a storm. He left around midnight I believe.
Thursday-Kyle had to work today so I got up around 8:30 and left around 10:30 or so because I was enjoying breakfast downstairs, took a long shower and just had some me time in the morning and I arrived at Seattle Art Museum (SAM) at 11:00 and stayed until 1:15. It was a lot of fun. I wish I had stayed longer because there was sooooo much to see there are 4 floors although the first and second floor do not have as much artwork at the 3rd and 4th floors they are massive and there's soooooo much to see Renaissance, oil paintings, metal artwork, the Chicago Stock Exchange, Staind Glass Windows, it's a lot and the price admission is free every first Thursday of the month and it is open until 9 PM I wish I had time to go back that night and see more but I did a lot. After the art museum I met up with my parents at the art museum and went on an hour and a half sail boat ride. It was over around 4:30 or so. Then we went back to the hotel and I packed up my belongings since I knew I'd be staying over Kyle's tonight one last time since we were leaving early on Saturday morning :( so I packed most of my suitcase up at and I even packed and overnight bag to stay with Kyle. Then I met Kyle down at the lobby with my overnight bag and we went back to Kyle's place. I dropped off my bag, he dropped off Chef Boyardee for me and vanilla pudding. Then we went Miniature Golfing soooo much fun. It took us 2 buses and about a 40 minute ride or so to get there but it was totally worth it. We had fun we laughed, we fell down, I fell down first I lost my balance and fell on my left side as I was reaching for my golf ball in the hole. Then Kyle fell on his knees I'm not sure why that happened I think it was the uneven terrain of the mini golf course and it wasn't well lit either and I even lost my ball in the fake woods. We were ready to leave anyhow because we played an hour into it and the course wasn't even properly labeled on the flags to say hole 1 or hole 18 so we just played around the entire course and repeated most of the numbers too. It was soooo much fun. I even thought I had to pay for a new ball when I lost it in the fake woods somewhere. Then we went to the taco truck and I actually had Kyle order my Burrito so he knew to ask for meat on it but it was still such a bland Burrito it's not like Chipolet where they stack all kinds of flavors in their sauces and in the meat and on everything. Chipolet is soooo much better than the taco truck by a long shot. the only good thing about the taco truck is that it's cheaper than Chipolet. Then we went back to Kyle's place and got ready for bed and slept on the air mattress tomorrow was going to be my FAVORITE DAY I JUST KNEW IT WHEN I HIT MY HEAD ON THE PILLOW AND SAID SEA-HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
FRIDAY-MY LAST FULL DAY :( Kyle and I didn't have much to eat for breakfast that morning and so we went back to my hotel where I could drop my overnight bag and finish getting ready for the big day. I EVEN PUT ON MY SEATTLE SEAHAWS SHIRT AND WORE IT ALL DAY LONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I felt like I was going to a playoff game I was sooooo freakin' excited. So once I was ready to go I met Kyle near my hotel and we walked toward the CINEMA THEATER TO GO SEE SHARK NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The movie sucked beyond belief but the best part was WE WERE LAUGHING THE ENTIRE TIME AND SOME GUY IN FRONT OF US LAUGHED TOO AT THE SHERIFF IN THE MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG it was sooooo bad you couldn't help but laugh. The 3D part of it really sucked too. I never laughed soooooo hard in the theaters before. After the movie we met up with my parents and we hung out in the hotel for a few minutes and went out to eat at some bar place and got individual sized pizzas and drinks and what not. They were really good. THEN WE WERE OFF TO THE SEAHAWKS AND RAIDERS GAME!!!!!!!!!!!! On our way to the stadium we were soooooo scared of this guy who was dressed as a skull with a cape on and I was kinda running away from him because I didn't want him to go psycho on me for being a seahawk fan. It was scary. Then when we arrived at the stadium I HAVE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN THE FOOTBALL TURF AND ALL THE PEOPLE AND NOISE AND LOOKING DOWN AT THE TURF IT WAS SOOO GREEN, SOOOO CLEAN I COULD EAT FOOD OFF OF IT IF I REALLY WANTED TO. IT WAS AMAZING OT ME!!!!!!!!!! This is my first football game in my entire life and I love this sport sooooo incredibly much it's insane how much I love football. This was my special day going to the game. We were all surrounded by Raiders fans in our seats though and Kyle was lucky to be on the other side of me sitting next to a Seahawks fan because he originally sat next to a raider fan but they switched spots they are a married couple and the wife likes the Seahawks and the husband likes the Raiders go figure. So anyhow we were all shouting and screaming our heads off. Every time Seattle got a touchdown or a 3 point kick we were all screaming and fireworks went off it was crazy!!!!!!!!! Kyle was soooo close to earning his free short stack at I-Hop if the Seahawks won the game by 21 points or more Kyle and the rest of the Seattle fans received free short stacks at I-Hop I asked Kyle if it would work in CT if I brought in the short stack pass and he said no. Just for the residents in Seattle; however, the score at the end was 20 to 3 GO SEATTLE THEY WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As we were walking out of the stadium everyone was saying SEA-HAWKS-SEAK-HAWKS AND KYLE AND I JOINED IN AND IT WAS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!! We kept saying it most of our way back to the hotel. It was the most MEMORABLE DAY EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The adrenaline rush of being at the game, seeing the fans, seeing the players warm up before the game, seeing how good the 2nd and 3rd string quarterbacks are for the Sea-Hawks was RIVETING!!!!!! I was soooooo pumped the entire night and even the next morning I couldn't sleep just thinking about how great that game was. My first football game I ever went to Kyle was there with me and that is something I will NEVER forget!!!!!!!!!!!!
Saturday (Sept. 2)-I was sooo sad to leave I had such a great time seeing Kyle, doing all kinds of new and exciting things I just didn't want it to end!!!!!!!!!!! I even got a little sad the night before standing outside of the hotel room saying our final goodbyes together. It was sooooo hard to do. I cried a little after he left. We've been friends for such a long time and the long distance between us really hurts a lot because when we went to Mitchell together we saw each other every single day for breakfast, lunch, dinner and we even walked to classes together. It just hurts to know we can't have that again. Sometimes I wish I lived closer to him. Maybe one day I'll move out to Seattle that would be awesome and I can take the bus everywhere and it comes every 10 minutes most of the time. Anyhow, the plane rides home were scheduled on time and we arrived at the Hartford Bradley Airport on time too but on our way home we got a serious phone call from our uncle stating my grandmother has broken her hip today. We were in such shock and dismay I couldn't believe how happy I had been and now I'm feeling soooo devastated. It was such a shocking emotional roller coaster happy to all of a sudden really sad and worried for her health. Thankfully, my grandmother is doing better she had her surgery and she's recovering from the injury. When I spoke to my grandmother all she wanted to hear about was my trip to Seattle and how much fun my family and I had and all I kept asking her was about her health but she wanted to talk about happy events and I was glad to share my stories/moments I had with Kyle.
Kyle I miss you soooo much. Hopefully, I will see you again soon. You are sooo special to me. I'm sooooo grateful we still talk on an almost regular basis.
Love,
Manda
